1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the game table fabrics of games tables, particularly tables for playing ball games such as Snooker, Billiards, and Pool and to the method of surfacing the game table bed of same. More particularly, this invention relates to a novel game table fabric having a front side and a back side wherein the front side of the game table fabric comprises a playing surface and the back side has a nonpermanent releasable adhesive disposed thereon whereby the nonpermanent releasable adhesive allows the game table fabric to be securely held to a game table bed yet the game table fabric may be cleanly removed from the game table bed if repositioning of the game table fabric is needed or if replacement of a section or all of the game table fabric is required.
2. Brief Discussion of the Prior Art
Such ball games, or games essentially similar to them, have been played for a considerable amount of time throughout the world, and the same type of table is used for each variant of the game, e.g. Snooker, Billiards, Pool, Russian Billiards, American Pool, etc. Traditionally, the tables used for these games have a hard wooden frame supporting a bed of flat material, such as slate, upon which a felt cloth playing surface is provided. While felt cloth is a preferred material, it is known in the arts and it is within the scope of this invention that other similar fabrics may be used as the playing surface of the game table.
For many decades, "woven felts" of wool fabric have been the substrate of choice for the playing surface of game tables. The dyed and sometimes decorated fabrics provide an attractive and functional surface for the rapid and true (non-veering) "carry" (roll) of the ball. In the high performance end of the game table market, the woolen (or wool fiber blend) fabric is secured to the slate top of the game table. To facilitate this operation, a second fabric is attached to the back-side of the woolen fabric. The second fabric preferably comprises a polyester/cotton or polyester/rayon blend and this second fabric is commonly referred to as a "backing fabric". Both the backing fabric and the woolen fabric are then attached to the wooden frame supporting the slate top by a combination of mechanical means such as staples or tacks. In addition, spot application of the contact glue directly to the slate is frequently required to tighten "loose" sections of the covering and to make the overall tautness of the covering more uniform.
This procedure requires many hours by a trained, experienced technician and the quality of the resulting installation depends to a large degree on the skill of the installer. The quality of the installation may be measured in terms of the flatness, smoothness, uniformity in tension, freedom of wrinkles, and "speed" of the table. Thus, this operation is generally beyond the skills of the average homeowner.
In state-of-the-art two-fabric composite system, the backing cloth may be already fabricated into the woolen felt as supplied or it may be attached to the woolen underside at a later point but always prior to the actual table installation. In addition to adding cost, the underlying backing material allows poorer conformity of the overall "composite" covering to the flatness of the slate, which in turn, adversely affects the speed of the rolling ball. A "fast" table, wherein the woolen fabric offers a hard smooth planar surface is a very desirable objective for a quality billiard table installation or recovering of the playing surface.
In addition to the extra material cost and installation time required by using the two-fabric system, other disadvantages occur during the use of a game table having a two-fabric system playing surface. For example, "mis-cued shots" in which the tip of the player's pool stick inadvertently strikes the playing surface can cause shifting and "gathering" of the woolen surface since some slight movement between the two-fabric planes occurs. In turn, this gathering in front of the cue stick may cause tearing of the woolen surface.
Moreover, the process to recover game tables having a two-fabric system playing surface introduces a particularly deleterious factor. After the original worn two-fabric layer system is removed for replacement, the supporting slate bed must then be thoroughly cleaned with aggressive solvent to remove all traces of glue. An unavoidable consequence during these cumbersome handling procedures is the transfer of "chalk dust". Chalk dust is commonly used by players to improve the non-slip contact of the pointer of the pool sticks and the billiard balls, however, the chalk dust contaminates the table covering. Furthermore, throughout the cumbersome recovering process for replacing or repairing the playing surface the chalk dust can easily transfer to the slate bed and become particularly difficult to remove in areas where spot gluing was required. Any small grains of residual dust then act as abrasion sites against the backside of the replacement game table playing surface and substantially accelerates the wear of the woolen fabric playing surface. Thus, professional game tables or any game tables with heavy usage frequently require recovering after only a few months time due to the wear and damage factors described hereinbefore. In time, this type of expansive, two-fabric recovering may even adversely affect the planarity of the surface of the slate bed itself due to the frequent spot gluing, spot adhesive removal, dust contamination, etc.
It has been and remains a consistent goal of the game t able clot h industry to keep handling and thereby dust transfer to a minimum. Consequently, there is a need for reducing the complexity and the difficulty associated with the installation and recovering of a woolen fabric playing surface. Also, such needs require that the significant contaminants which arise of from th e recovering process be eliminated or alleviated thereby extending the wearing of the playing surface. The present invention is directed to a novel game table fabric and method of manufacture thereof and method of installation or recovering of the game table fabric.